Residency Reviewing

Featured image shows detail of a wall between Camberwell and South London Gallery, the location of our pop up show.

Prior to the pizza outing (when we relaxed together at Caravaggio’s) we had had a final session togethe in which we followed a set format. We were asked to think in silence for 6 minutes and raise a question, an open question. This was an invitation to the others in our group (3 or 4 of us) to listen attentively for 20 minutes with the specific assumption that the answer to this open question lay within the person who was asking it. My question was to myself – What will be the nature of the next piece of work I shall do when I am back at home and in the studio again? I explained to my listeners that the context of my home and studio was very different to during my stay in London. I explained that in such a different context I would understand things differently and needed time to absorb all that had gone on during the residency. I was asked what would I be taking back with me to the studio in terms of what had I gained from the residency. I explained that the residency had made me understand the importance of telling the story, something which I am already beginning to do with the timeline animations which tell the story of each painting. I have realised that there is a new dimension to my storytelling that I must realise, and that is the story of the evolution of my way of painting over many years – how I got to paint in the way I do. Over the years I have evolved and changed such that now I want to look back and take stock of my life so far, and the visual development of the painting gives me a framework. I had always thought of the telling of one’s own story as being a matter for writers, and not thinking of myself primarily as a writer I have not told my own story all these years. I shall tell the story in paintings, creating timelines into my own history, told in terms of the gradual development of my own idea of pictopoiesis which has arisen out of the painting itself and is the point of reference around which my project proposal is orientated.

As a result of this exercise, I realise how I must get down to the task of looking back over all the images of my paintings over the years and create timelines which I feel might perhaps best articulate the nature of the journey. I am keen to begin as soon as I get back home.

In addition, I am delighted that Iris and Vivian would like to come and visit our studio sometime. It is easy to get to Newark North Gate from Kong’s Cross, where we can pick visitors up. Given that the train journey is just about 1hr and 20 mins, in a way we are at a simple commute in London terms, and given the time it takes to cross London itself, we are in a way quite near train-wise.

The below image of lichens was taken during reconnaissance for the pop – up exhibition. I was thinking of symbiosis, the co-existence of different organisms for their mutual benefit – as is the case with lichens.